


Group Project

by Keldae



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, College AU, F/M, Mild Language, Modern AU, Roommates, Slow Burn, nosy interfering matchmaker friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 13:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20358925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keldae/pseuds/Keldae
Summary: Desperate times call for desperate measures. Or, there are some perks to having a jerk for a roommate.





	Group Project

Jonas Balkar was the absolute worst person on campus to have to bunk with, Theron decided as he glowered at his dorm room door. No matter that they had been friends from junior high, and both tied for the highest grades in their computer science major; right then, staring at the sock on the door handle, Theron wished for a different roommate. Some things had never changed. He did wish Jonas had waited longer than three weeks into the school year to start bringing back his conquests to their room.

He sighed, muttering expletives under his breath as he adjusted his backpack over his shoulder. It was stupidly late and the library was closed, otherwise he would have taken his homework there. The students’ lounge in the main foyer of the dormitory was currently being occupied with a project that the aspiring mechanics on campus had snuck in and were playing with around the clock. And there was no way in hell Theron was driving three hours at this time of night to go crash on his dad’s couch. 

With a scowl, he surveyed the rest of the doors in the hallway, inwardly remembering who of his dormmates belonged to which door. Right next door to his and Jonas’ room was the one occupied by the twins, who had been completely identical until one of them scarred up his face in a motorcycle accident. Theron got on okay with the twins, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to take dealing with them all night. On the other side was the motley pair of aviation student Koth and the closest thing to a campus redneck, Torian, who somehow still got along great… if one could call the constant bickering “great”. Like the twins, Theron could handle that in small doses. Fellow computer science major Mako and anthropology major Vette across from the twins were right out. And like hell was Theron going to beg a rescue from Lana and whoever her poor roommate was now. Acina had bailed and swapped to a different school, and Malora had simply up and left one night – who was the new roommate, some lady named Hylo?

Footsteps drew his attention to another student walking down the hallway, a pretty redhead fumbling with keys in her jeans pocket. Theron had seen her around campus before (that bright red hair wasn’t exactly common, after all, and she definitely ranked among the shorter individuals on campus, to the point where he’d first thought she was a visiting high schooler the first time he’d seen her), but hells if he knew her name. He hadn’t even known she lived on this floor.

She drew even with Theron and came to a pause as she managed to wrestle her keys out of her pocket. Bright green eyes looked quizzically up at him, then at his door as she tugged her earbuds out of her ears. “Locked out?” she asked.

“Sorta,” Theron agreed as he stepped to the side so the girl could see the sock on his door.

She winced in sympathy. “What a douchebag. Your roommate’s Jonas, right? Tall, dark-haired, in the running for campus playboy?”

“And already confirmed as the biggest dick on campus,” Theron grumbled. 

The girl laughed. “Don’t go saying that where he can hear it. It’ll boost his ego too much.” She winked at him and turned to unlock the door directly across from Theron’s room. “Not that he needs any more of that…”

“No kidding.” Theron paused, glanced up and down the hallway again, and decided none of the options were greater than this one. “Hey, uh” he quickly added as she crossed the threshold into her own room, “I know this is weird, and a pretty stupid question, but, uh… is there space in your room for a visitor?” When her eyebrows quirked, he quickly rushed to explain. “Sorry, it’s just, I’ve got a project due for tomorrow and the library’s already closed, and I don’t… I don’t really have anywhere else to crash.”

The girl looked him up and down, and tilted her head to the side. “Not that I’m not sympathetic, but I don’t even know your name.”

_Idiot._ Theron shook his head and offered the girl a smile. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. My name’s Theron, I’m in the computer science program.”

That got a slow nod. “Yeah, that’d explain why you got stuck with that jerk for a roommate,” the girl said, gesturing to Theron’s door. She seemed to reach a conclusion and nodded, extending her hand to Theron. “Xaja. I don’t think we have any courses together; I’m in sociology.”

“That’s a pretty name,” Theron commented as he shook her hand. Her hand felt tiny in his, but surprisingly strong.

“I think it’s a family name. Some aunt or cousin or someone on Mum’s side had it.” Xaja smiled and pushed her door open, holding it open with her hip as she looked back and gestured with her head for Theron to follow her. “Come on in. Sorry about the mess.”

“Trust me, this is nothing,” Theron reassured her as he gratefully followed her inside. The room was a little cluttered and disorganized, but after staring at the mountain of beer cans that he and Jonas had started to accumulate, this wasn’t bad. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise.”

“Can’t have a fellow student sleeping in the hallways,” Xaja grinned as she set her book bag down on a chair on the side of the room decorated with Marvel posters, a giant map of Middle-earth, and a million pictures of cats. “My roommate’s out for the night, some sort of basketball event out of town.”

“You’re not?” Theron asked as he dropped his backpack under a poster featuring Hawkeye and Black Widow. “Kinda figured you to be the athletic type. I mean, you, uh… you look like you play some sort of sports.” That was the least-cringey way he could think of to tell her she had a really good-looking figure, he thought.

“Nah. I did hapkido all the way up through high school, kinda still dabble in it now, but don’t really have time for that with school kicking my ass.” She paused, frowning slightly. “Are you a night owl or one of the early-morning lunatics? One of those answers might get you banished back to the hallway, as a warning.”

Theron made a face. “Given I have a clusterfuck of bugs to work out of this code before class tomorrow, I’m an involuntary night owl tonight. Mornings aren’t your thing?”

“Let’s just say if I see the sun rise, it’s because I haven’t gone to bed yet.” Xaja knelt and started rooting around in her bag. “Hopefully this paper I need to finish won’t take that long. But you’ve saved yourself from sleeping in the hallway tonight.”

“I’m touched by your mercy.” Theron laughed and pulled his laptop out of his backpack as Xaja stood up with her own in hand, as well as a couple of heavy-looking textbooks. He nodded toward her poster collection. “Love the decor though. Marvel is way better than DC.”

“Finally, someone who appreciates good quality comic to movie adaptations! Kira and I bicker about that all the time.” Xaja grinned as she flopped down onto what Theron assumed was her bed. “Mini-fridge under the desk should have some Coke in it still if you need a caffeine boost.”

“I’ve never said no to a caffeine boost in my life,” Theron lied, hiding a cringe at the thought of drinking something that wasn’t his preferred Dr. Pepper. He set his laptop down on the mattress beside Xaja’s leg and knelt to pull out two of the evil red cans of sugar and caffeine, then gave the desk a careful look as he handed one of the cans to his host. Currently it was buried under a stack of books, a daily _Star Wars_ calendar two days behind the current date, and a sprawling spider plant. If he had known he had a pretty nerd living across the hall from him, he would have tried to meet her sooner. “Am I okay to move any of this?” he asked.

Xaja accepted one of the Coke cans and gave the desk a critical stare, then shrugged and scooted over on the bed. “That thing doesn’t have near enough space on it, even without Audrey taking it over. You can sit here if you like – unless you bite?”

“Only when asked nicely,” Theron winked as he carefully sat down on the bed beside her and pulled his computer onto his lap. Maybe it was the excessive amount of blankets she had on her bed, or the throw pillow he snagged to put behind his lower back, but her bed felt far more comfortable than his across the hallway. 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Xaja grinned in a way that made Theron’s heart pump a little faster, then settled down with her computer and cracked open a textbook. “Dunno if you’re hungry at all, but there’s crackers and jelly beans in the third drawer down.”

“Thanks.” Theron smiled and settled in, opening up his laptop and pulling up the program he was trying to debug. He felt Xaja shift as she pulled both of her legs up on the bed to settle in, and then quiet descended on two procrastinating students. And if Theron took longer to work on his code because he kept glancing to his pretty saviour and her paper, well, that was nobody’s business but his.

* * *

_Fuck it._ Theron scowled at the stubborn coding on his computer screen, the cheerily blinking cursor taunting him. He would have to run through it before class tomorrow, when his brain wasn’t starting to ache from fatigue. “Good enough,” he muttered as he closed his laptop and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Good timing,” Xaja absently said as she glanced over at one of her textbooks. “I’m just finishing up a citation and I’ll be done. Good thing, too.”

“What, what time is –” Theron glanced at his phone and winced. “2:43. I’ve done worse.”

“At least we’re sleeping tonight.” Xaja yawned as she typed a last sentence into her paper and closed her laptop. “When’s your first class?”

“9:15.” Theron slipped his computer back into his backpack. “You?”

“Same. I don’t know if I could handle Doctor Din in an earlier block.” Xaja slipped off the bed and frowned contemplatively at the room. “I’d let you sleep on Kira’s bed, but then I’d hear bitching about it for the rest of the semester…” The other bed, which Theron assumed belonged to Xaja’s roommate, was covered in laundry and textbooks anyway.

“It’s okay,” Theron quickly said. “I’m okay with sleeping on the floor. God knows I’ve done that enough.”

“You sure?” Xaja doubtfully asked, looking concerned. “That’s gotta kill your back.”

“Meh. If riding a BMX all through high school didn’t kill my back, nothing will.” Theron grinned at Xaja’s impressed raised eyebrow. “Did it competitively too, wasn’t half bad.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.” Xaja shook her head and smiled, then gestured with her head. “Bathroom’s through that door. We share it with Mako and Vette – don’t know if you know them at all – but at this time of night, it should be free.”

“That works out well then,” Theron agreed as he let himself into the bathroom and suppressed a sigh. Hair products, flat irons, makeup kits, tampon boxes… this was totally a girls’ bathroom. Even knowing he had been invited in by one of the girls using this bathroom didn’t make him feel much less of a sleaze.

When he emerged a few minutes later, he was greeted with the sight of an extra pillow and a pile of blankets covering the floorspace between the two beds. “I hope that’s enough,” Xaja murmured, eyeing the improvised bed worriedly. “I got this terrible feeling you’re gonna wake up needing a chiropractor.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Theron hesitated before brushing her arm with his hand. “This is already better than I was expecting.” The alternative idea, that they share her bed, lingered on the tip of his tongue – but that was hardly appropriate to ask of her, after she had been gracious enough to let him crash with her. They hadn’t even known each others’ names a few hours ago! Besides, a pretty girl like her had to have a significant other – Theron found, much to his surprise, that he envied that bastard (or bitch. He didn’t judge.). There was no way a girl like her was single – and no way that he was lucky enough to meet one like her.

Xaja didn’t look convinced, looking between Theron and the pile of blankets again. “I dunno,” she said. “Are you sure? I can root around and try to steal some off Kira’s bed…”

“I promise, it’s totally okay!” Theron offered her a smile, and when she still didn’t look convinced, made a point of sitting down in the blankets and stretching out. “It’s completely fine. I’ve done way worse.”

“… Okay,” Xaja finally agreed as she slowly nodded. “But let me know if you need more blankets or anything?”

“Promise,” Theron nodded. “Pinky swear, even.” That finally got a grin as Xaja vanished into the bathroom, and Theron squirmed to find a comfortable position in the blanket pile. Xaja had definitely gone all in with the blankets, to the point where Theron sat up and frowned at her bed to make sure she still had some for herself. He shrugged off his favourite red hoodie, squishing it under the pillow before laying back down. He usually felt more comfortable sleeping in his boxers, but he had a feeling his host wouldn’t appreciate having a nearly-naked stranger on her floor. One night in jeans and a T-shirt wouldn’t kill him.

“You sure that’s okay?” Xaja’s voice drifted down to Theron’s ears as she stepped out of the bathroom; he heard the sound of clothes being tossed to another part of the floor and the switch of the bathroom light flicking off.

“Yeah, this is good –” Theron sat up slightly as Xaja came into his field of vision, and tried to not stare. For fuck’s sake, a tank top and pajama shorts weren’t exactly lingerie, and she was far from the first girl he’d seen! But Xaja did seem to rock the look way harder than anyone else he’d known. He could definitely appreciate the lean, athletic look of her tiny frame, even when she didn’t really have any curves to speak of. He swallowed and tried speaking again. “You sure you have enough blankets? Feels like you have half your bedding down here.”

“I’m not the one without a mattress,” Xaja said as she stepped neatly around Theron to turn off the bedroom light, giving him a very brief instant to appreciate her pedicure – he was starting to suspect her favourite colour was blue, to judge by the nail polish on her toes – before darkness dropped over them. A pinpoint of bright light from somewhere around four feet over his head told him Xaja was using her phone flashlight to get back into bed without stepping on him. “You don’t snore, do you?”

“Nah. If I did, Jonas would have murdered me already.” Theron watched the light, and her silhouette, carefully step around his legs as she crawled up onto the foot of her bed. “Do you?”

“No, but fair warning, I apparently talk in my sleep some nights.”

“So, keep my ears open if I want to hear your subconscious secrets. Okay.” Theron grinned at the sound of Xaja’s laugh, mingled with the sounds of her mattress squeaking as she got comfortable. 

“Good luck with that. Last time I did that, Kira said I was talking in French. I can’t remember the last time I’ve used French while awake.” The glow from Xaja’s phone shone around the edge of the mattress. “7:30 work for you? It takes me forever to wake up.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Theron yawned and rolled onto his side as the phone’s glow disappeared. He listened to the sounds of Xaja squirming in her remaining blankets until she finally settled down. “Thank you again, Xaja. I owe you a big one for this.”

“Buy me coffee sometime, we’ll call it good.” The sound of her yawn couldn’t drown out the feeling of Theron’s heart skipping a beat. “G’night.”

“Night,” Theron murmured as he settled in and closed his eyes. _That was not an opening for a date. She probably just means to bring her Tim’s one day. Get a grip, Shan. She’s not the first pretty girl you’ve seen, and definitely not the first one on campus. _

* * *

In hindsight, Theron supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised by Xaja having nerd-themed alarms on her phone. But he supposed there were worse songs to wake up to than the _Doctor Who_ theme (Ninth Doctor, if Theron had to identify which theme variation it was). It still made him jump as he startled out of his too-short sleep.

Above him, he heard a groan as Xaja grabbed her phone, silencing the music for a moment. Theron heard sleepy, muffled grunts as she squirmed around on the bed, then went still for a moment before her movements started again. “Where the fuck…?” came a sleepy mumble. An impressive display of bedhead made itself visible over the edge of the mattress before Xaja jumped. “Jesus!” she yelped as she fell back onto the bed. “Shit, I totally forgot you were there!”

“Morning,” Theron groggily said as he sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes. Despite his fatigue, he still grinned and took the liberty of poking Xaja’s foot through her blankets as she covered her face with her hands. “Awake yet?”

“Gnnngh.” Xaja’s fingers cracked enough for her to look at Theron. “Gimme a bit. Heart attack and all.”

“Come on, my bedhead’s not that bad,” Theron teased as Xaja’s fingers closed over her eye again. “And you’re not within morning breath range.”

That got a small giggle as Xaja finally sat up, raking a hand through her tangled red hair. As far as just-awoken, unwashed, makeup-less gremlins went, Theron thought this one didn’t look bad at all. She yawned and scooted back a smidge, pulling her feet out of Theron’s poking range. “Sleep okay?”

“Like a rock,” Theron assured her as he squirmed out of the blanket nest and rolled up to his knees. His back protested the movement, but he thought he did a decent job in hiding his wince. “Didn’t freeze with half your blankets on the floor?”

“Nah.” Xaja shook her head and gave him a small smile. “I survived the ordeal well enough, for this dorm.” Theron still saw her shiver slightly as she crossed her legs underneath her. “How’s your back?”

“Totally fine. Little stiff, but nothing worth bitching about.” Theron rolled his shoulders in an attempt to loosen his muscles, then mischievously grinned as he gathered up a couple of his borrowed blankets and tossed them in an undignified heap on Xaja. “Saw you shivering just now; it’d be rude of me to let my hostess freeze.”

Xaja squeaked and giggled as she was buried back under the blankets, and squirmed her way back to sitting. “Don’t do that, otherwise I’ll fall back asleep!” She paused, and made of a show of hugging one of the blankets tightly. “Ooooh, leftover body heat…”

Theron laughed as he started gathering the rest of the blankets and unceremoniously dumping them in Xaja’s lap. “Hey, maybe they’ll turn the heat on in this dorm sometime before Thanksgiving.”

“God, I hope so. It’s too bloody cold in here for late September!“ 

"At least the chill should help you wake up?”

“Or just incentivize me to curl up and go back to sleep…”

Theron shook his head and smirked. “Don’t do that– I’ve heard stories about Professor Din and late students.”

“And most of those stories are probably true.” Xaja groaned and reluctantly let go of the blankets, scooting to the edge of the mattress. “Guess I’d better look presentable.”

_You don’t need much work on that front,_ Theron thought, but didn’t voice that comment. “Yeah, pants might be ideal with a frost warning out there.”

“Delightful,” Xaja sighed as she raked a hand through her messy hair. Silence fell for a moment before she looked back up at Theron. “I don’t suppose that–”

The _Imperial March_ interrupted her sentence with a blaring of trumpets and percussion, at a volume loud enough to make Theron jump. Xaja swore under her breath as she dived for her phone and scrambled to turn off the alarm. “Son of a–! Sorry, forgot about the backup alarms…”

“All good,” Theron assured her as he tried to get his heart rate to settle back down. “I’m good and awake now.” He stood up and collected his hoodie from the floor. “ Guess it’s time to see if the coast is clear or if I’m kicking out an all-night-stand.”

“Good luck!” Xaja yawned as she started squirming off the bed. 

When Theron cautiously opened her door and looked across the hallway, he was pleased to see the sock had finally disappeared from his door handle. He crossed over to his room and opened the door, earning a groan from a still-in-bed Jonas. “Consider me deeply unsympathetic, dumbass,” Theron groused as he closed the door and threw his hoodie on his own bed. 

“Worth it,” Jonas mumbled with a smirk – a smirk that vanished as Theron picked his hoodie back up and threw it at his face. “Ow!" 

"You had that coming,” Theron retorted. “Who’d you sucker in this time?”

“Real cute redhead. One of the international students from the States.” Jonas threw the wadded-up hoodie back at Theron’s bed, then frowned. “She left around midnight though. Where the hell did you end up?”

“Adopted by a benevolent neighbour, who I like way more than you right now,” Theron called over his shoulder as he stepped into the bathroom, dearly hoping neither of the twins in the adjoining room had claimed the shower first. For a second, he pondered telling Jonas about the cute girl living across the hall from them, then decided against it. He strangely didn’t want Jonas to try charming the pants off of this one.

He had showered and was halfway through getting dressed before he suddenly cussed. “Shit! I forgot my backpack in her room!”

“_Her_ room, you say?” Jonas looked intrigued. “You’re awful cranky for someone who got laid last night…”

“It wasn’t like that! We were doing homework. Like that coding project Doctor Trant had us doing. _One_ of us can spend time with a girl without an ulterior motive of getting into her pants, dumbass.” Ignoring Jonas’ grin, Theron jammed a clean T-shirt over his head and hurried to the door, hoping he could catch Xaja before she left for class.

He opened his door just as Xaja had raised her hand to knock. Her eyes widened in surprise (and they were really pretty eyes, a bright green that reminded Theron of emeralds) as she took a step back. “Sorry–”

“No, no, don’t be,” Theron quickly assured her. “Actually was hoping I’d catch you. I’m an idiot and–”

Xaja’s other hand came up, holding Theron’s backpack. “Missing that?”

Theron breathed out a sigh of relief as he accepted his backpack. “You’re a literal angel. Thank you – I can’t believe I forgot that.”

Xaja shrugged and grinned. “Mornings, man. Nobody brains at this hour without caffeine… which I desperately need if I don’t want to fall asleep during one of Professor Din’s lectures. Again.” She stepped back and started to walk back down the hall. 

“Wait,” Theron quickly said before she could move too far away. She stopped and gave him a confused frown. “Uhh… how much time do you have before class?”

“About…” Xaja checked her phone. “Forty five-ish minutes, plus getting this paper printed off.”

“Can I take you out for breakfast? As a thank-you for saving my ass last night… and just now, too." 

A smile pulled at Xaja’s lips – not that Theron was looking at her mouth, no. "I could be persuaded,” she said with a coy little smirk. “Tim’s in the main hall?”

Theron shot her a grin. “Sounds good. Give me half a second.” He ducked back into his room to find his shoes and a jacket, then looked at Jonas’ grin. “What?”

“_’Homework’_, right.” Jonas’ grin widened. “She’s cute!”

“Shut up,” Theron growled as he slung his backpack over his shoulder, and only earned a laugh for his trouble. Trying to ignore his roommate with as much dignity as he could muster, he hurried back out into the hallway where Xaja was waiting. “All good.”

Xaja smiled and set butterflies loose in Theron’s stomach as she fell into step beside him. “So, judging by the lack of ruckus, there was nobody to kick out this morning?”

“No, but Jonas himself is pushing it,” Theron muttered, and got a laugh. He smiled at her, his annoyance with Jonas fading into the back of his mind. “So, what was that paper about?…”

* * *

Theron darted into the classroom and slid into his seat only moments before Doctor Trant closed the door. He caught Jonas grinning at him in the next seat over and scowled at him. “What?”

“So how did your breakfast date go?” Jonas cheerfully asked. Behind them, Theron could sense Mako perking up, and nearly groaned. Once Mako knew something, the odds of the rest of the school knowing it within a week rose exponentially.

“It wasn’t a date,” Theron insisted as he pulled his laptop out of his backpack. “It was a thank-you for saving my ass, no thanks to you.”

“I got laid, and you met a cute girl. I think it’s a win on both sides,” Jonas retorted. “You’re welcome.”

“You’re a dick,” Theron muttered as he opened his laptop up, then paused when he saw the piece of paper on his keyboard that he knew he hadn’t put there. He grabbed the paper before Jonas could snatch it, then looked at the neat writing and smiled when he saw a phone number. _‘In case you get locked out again.’_“

"What’s that?” Jonas impishly asked.

“None of your damn business,” Theron retorted, right before Doctor Trant cleared his throat to start the class. As Jonas finally looked to the front of the room with a subtle roll of his eyes, Theron slid his phone out of his pocket and stealthily entered Xaja’s number, unable to keep a small smile off his face. Hopefully being kicked out of his own room again wouldn’t need to be his primary reason for texting her.


End file.
